With the opening on Friday of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Internet is brimming with articles related -- some only barely -- to Canada's best-known mutant. Here's a sampling:

• Nine people in Maricopa County, Arizona, have been charged with selling illegal copies of the movie. "Wolverine wouldn't stand for bootlegged copies of his new movie and neither do we," said a deputy county attorney.

• The swine flu outbreak has led 20th Century Fox to cancel the movie's Mexico City premiere, which had been scheduled for today. "We were not only concerned about Hugh's welfare – and we would never send anyone into harm's way – but we also have an enormous office filled with people we care about," a studio spokesperson said. "There was no point in proceeding under the current conditions." Theater's in Mexico City have closed to help stem the spread of the epidemic.

• IGN.com picks the best Wolverine stories of all time from Wolverine & Kitty Pryde to Origin to the "Enemy of the State" arc. Creative Loafing does the same thing, tossing in the unfinished "Old Man Logan" storyline, while MTV's Splash Page and io9.com take the movie-primer route.

• The blog Living Between Wednesdays has dubbed this "Wolverine Week," and tailored its content to match. There's an interview with artist Steve McNiven, a rating of Logan's super-hunkiness, a look at Wolverine merchandise, and more.

• As a public service, Dorian Wright lists "Five Signs Your Wolverine Might Be Gay."

• Wolverine is a man's man. Or something. So says Jason Gardner: "Part of the appeal is that for many obvious reasons Wolverine embodies the call of the wild. We have an eon old obsession with humans who are part homo sapien part animal, from minotaurs to mermaids. Then there are the more recent monsters who are animalistic in their longings: like the vampires of Twilight or Benicio Del Toro in the upcoming The Wolf Man."

• Also, he's a sexy beast. MSNBC's Ree Hines tells us why: "A bad boy with a good heart packing a half-dozen built-in switchblades and a leather jacket? That mainline taps into the Rebel Without a Cause archetype we’re genetically programmed to adore. Our primordial brains have no defense against it."

• Despite Marvel's ban on smoking in its comic books, Wolverine manages to inspire Boxwish's list of the top five cigar-smoking action heroes: "Certainly, the trend has suffered in recent decades due to the anti-smoking movement, yet some secret smokers still manage to sneak under the radar and one such fella is back on the big screen – Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

• I'm pretty sure the Daily Mail is just desperate for the big news hook when it tries to connect the search in Wales for a shaggy recluse prowling the woods with the release of Wolverine: "Now there are also fears that child fans of the X-Men comic book superhero Wolverine, as played by Hugh Jackman, might think it fun to go looking for him and put themselves in danger."

• AMC's Sci Fi Scanner has "Five Fun Facts About Wolverine You Won't Learn From His Movie."